
OHIO
Ohio was among the first states to authorize Governmental Electricity Aggregation (GEA) as part the Energy Choice Act of 1999 (SB3). As of March, 2023, 632 communities have enabled CCA in Ohio and 354 have an active program for approximately 2.3 million customer accounts.
HISTORY
Ohio is served by a patchwork of several electric distribution companies, electric co-ops and municipal electric utilities, as shown on this map.
Direct Energy has written an excellent 2-page history of energy deregulation and customer choice in Ohio. The remainder of this history section is condensed from that source.
In July 1999, Ohio restructured its energy market to allow consumers to choose their energy provider, effective January 1, 2001. Customers could choose to buy energy from Certified Retail Electric Suppliers (CRES) instead of automatically receiving it from their local utility company. Four activities that had previously been performed by investor owned utilities (IOU) were separated.
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Electric Utilities, also known as Electric Distribution Companies (EDC), would control transmission and distribution (aka “poles and wires”)
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Marketers would sell retail service to residential and commercial customers
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Brokers or aggregators would contract with retailers on behalf of groups of buyers
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Governmental aggregators (County, municipal, or local community governments) would contract with suppliers for service on behalf of their residents and businesses
The first few years of deregulation were rocky. Customers were hesitant to switch to new suppliers or aggregators due a lack of price differences. Meanwhile, changes in the market landscape left many without choices. The northern (primarily urban) part of the state had more energy suppliers, while the southern (rural) part had fewer. Consequently, in areas where suppliers were sparse, customer choice was often effectively limited to community aggregation or the incumbent utility. Litigation over compliance with SB3 also delayed the transition to full market pricing.
In May 2008, Governor Ted Strickland signed Senate Bill 221 into law to revise PUCO’s regulatory structure. It required incumbent utilities to offer a Standard Service Offer (SSO) for customers who did not actively choose a retail supplier. PUCO was given broad authority to make sure certain utilities’ SSO proposals were “fair and equitable” to consumers.
SB 221 also required each incumbent utility to shed its power generation operations and become an electric distribution utility (EDU).
Aggregation in Ohio must be approved through a local ballot measure and, like Illinois, local governments facilitate the aggregation contract but do not assume day-to-day administration of the program.
GOVERNMENTAL AGGREGATION MAP
The map below shows the communities in Ohio that were participating in governmental electric aggregation as of August 3, 2017. Dark and light blue denote city and village aggregation, orange shows township aggregation and tan indicates aggregation at the county level. PUCO maintains an interactive version of this map that is updated frequently, which allows you to zoom in and out and get additional information about jurisdictions that offer aggregation.

The largest aggregator in the state, Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC), serves almost 1 million customers in 242 communities. NOPEC estimated in 2020 that its customers have saved more than $300 million and awarded $28 million in community energy efficiency grants since its inception in 2001. NOPEC also offers PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing) and STEP (Savings Through Efficiency Program) loan financing for commercial property owners to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy improvement projects. The NOPEC Energized Community (NEC) Grant Program, in partnership with NextEra Energy, provides grants to NOPEC member communities for energy-related projects.
Aggregation efforts in southern Ohio through the Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council (SOPEC) continue. SOPEC currently is comprised of nineteen member communities across seven counties in the Southeast Ohio region — the City of Athens, the City of Logan, unincorporated Athens County, and the Villages of Albany, Amesville, Buchtel, Chauncey, Chesterhill, Glenford, Jacksonville, Lowell, New Straitsville, Racine, Rio Grande, Shawnee, Somerset, and Trimble. SOPEC offers a STEP Loan program providing property-assessed financing for small commercial energy efficiency projects, a PACE Loan program for qualifying industrial, commercial, non-profit, and public-sector energy customers for energy efficiency projects in addition to sponsoring the development of regional energy projects in member communities. To date, SOPEC sponsored projects have primarily focused on solar PV facilities and biogas facilities.
CURRENT AND EMERGING ISSUES
In an unprecedented move in August 2022, NOPEC announced it was moving 550,000 (about half) of its customers back to FirstEnergy utilities. NOPEC's and other retailers' current electric rates in the state are higher than the utility's price to compare because the utility's rate was determined largely in auctions conducted before April, when energy prices were considerably lower. NOPEC’s Standard Program Price would have been almost double Ohio Edison’s price to compare. In April, 2023, NOPEC announced it is relaunching their program to its previously dropped customers, with a summer rate of half the utility's default price.
Issue 1 was proposed in the Columbus City Council and was overwhelmingly approved by voters in November 2020. Nearly 76% of Columbus voters voted in favor of the energy aggregation program. At the time, Columbus' electricity aggregation was the only one in Ohio to negotiate a 100% new green energy supply. Clean Energy Columbus was the third-largest CCA in the nationwhen it launched on June 1, 2021. Clean Energy Columbus buys RECs from Illinois, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Oklahoma and spurred proposals from developers to build Ohio-based renewable energy facilities. The oil and gas industries did not want competition from renewables and used their powerful lobbying presence to spur the state legislature to take action. Most notably, Senate Bill 52, was passed in October, 2021, which set up additional hurdles in local approval that solar and wind – but not oil and gas – must obtain. Despite the hurdles, in 2023, the program's supplier is in talks with eight Ohio-based solar and wind projects in various phases of development. Most are projected to be online by mid-2025.
House Bill 178, which would require nearly 2 million Ohio residential customers to pay up to $1,000 each to subsidize FirstEnergy Corp.‘s aging nuclear plants, was introduced on April 10, 2017. The Chairman of the Ohio House Public Utilities Committee has suspended further hearings, and a vote, on the proposed bill. The discussion of subsidies for nuclear generation and 1950s-era coal plants is expected to continue.
Ohio’s net-metering rules appear destined for the State’s Supreme Court as utilities and their opponents dig in against each other over proposed changes. The disagreement over how customers with solar panels should be compensated for electricity they generate was on display in the Spring of 2018 before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Among the more contentious changes is a section that limits the part of a customer’s bill that can be offset by solar generation.
FAST FACTS
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Clean Energy Columbus began service in June, 2021 and is the third largest energy aggregation program in the nation. View their informational video HERE. Their goal is reducing the city’s emissions to 45% by 2030 and to be carbon neutral by 2050.
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NOPEC has saved its customers more than a quarter billion dollars since 2000.
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Ohio’s alternative energy portfolio standard is 3.5% in 2017 and 12.5% by 2027. See this page for more details.
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Ohio maintains a public Do Not Aggregate list for customers who do not want to be “opted in” to a GEA, but few people have registered themselves on it.
LATEST PRESS
11 area cities banding together to negotiate energy costs for residents, businesses. May 22, 2023, Dayton Dailey News
Energy aggregator NOPEC is back after surviving an upheaval in electricity markets. April 28, 2023, ideastream.org
Springfield residents: What to know about city’s electric program, new Ohio Edison rates. April 24, 2023, Springfield News-Sun
FirstEnergy default electricity prices will double in June. Here's why. March 25, 2023, Akron Beacon Journal
NOPEC can resume electric aggregation — what it means for your bill. March 8, 2023, fox8.com
Are the lights coming back on at NOPEC? State regulators could soon decide. January 15, 2023, fox8.com
Thousands of Springfield utility customers being returned to Ohio Edison. October 24, 2022, springfieldnewssun.com
State regulators: NOPEC must defend its right to remain an electric aggregator in Ohio. September 8, 2022, cleveland.com
Shaker Heights looks to start its own electric aggregation program in 2023. Updated July 28, 2022, cleveland.com
Duke Energy raises prices on Cincinnati residents but those enrolled in the City’s aggregation program will save over the next year. June 6, 2022, fox19.com
Ameren's electric-supply rate doubles starting today. June 1, 2022, The News-Gazette
Aggregation participants protected from higher energy costs. June 1, 2022, Daily Advocate
Market conditions delay Grove City’s electricity aggregation program. May 24, 2022, Columbus Dispatch
Community solar legislation introduced in Ohio General Assembly. October 19, 2021, bricker.com
Answering Questions on the Energy Aggregation Initiative (Columbus). June 7, 2021, Columbusunderground.com
Dayton City Commission approves new electric aggregation plan using green energy. May 26, 2021, WTDN.com
Columbus’ Clean Energy Revolution Is Underway. May 11, 2021, NRDC.org
SOPEC works with communities to support clean energy. February 25, 2021, The Logan Daily News
Five new communities served by SOPEC. February 10, 2021, The Marietta Times
Bexley City Council approves electricity-aggregation program. February 1, 2021, The Columbus Dispatch
GOVERNMENTAL AGGREGATION LINKS
NOPEC: Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council
NOPEC map and list of participating communities
SOPEC: Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council
PUCO’s interactive map of all Ohio aggregation programs
Cincinnati Energy Aggregation Program
Clean Energy Columbus (city of Columbus' CCA program)
Shaker Heights Electric Aggregation
AEP Energy (power supplier)
OTHER HELPFUL LINKS
CCA-Enabling Legislation: SB 3, SB 221
US Energy Information Administration, Ohio State Energy Profile
Energy Choice Ohio's Apples to Apples Electric Comparison Chart
Power For A Clean Future Ohio (advocacy group for community-driven carbon reduction)
“What is Electric Aggregation?”, educational video on Electric Aggregation in Ohio produced by SOPEC in July, 2017
Community Energy Aggregation (An overview by the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel.)
Overview of Governmental Energy Aggregation in Ohio (Web site of the Ohio Public Utilities Commission.)
Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (Regulator of electric utilities)
Sustainable Delaware Ohio (advocacy group)
Energy Harbor (CCA consulting group)
Energy Alliances (CCA consulting group)
Trebel Energy (CCA consulting group)
RENEWABLES PORTFOLIO STANDARD
Ohio's RPS (effective late 2019) requires 8.5% of the state’s electricity supply to come from renewable and alternative energy sources by 2026, after a passage of a 2019 law reducing the benchmark from 12.5%. Ohio has already met its goal, and as a result has freed up the state’s renewable resource supply for export to other states with higher renewable targets and clean energy buyers.
LEGISLATION (PARTIAL LIST)
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SB 3 (1999) restructured the energy market and gave residential and small business customers the ability to choose their supplier. It enabled Certified Retail Electric Suppliers (CRES) to sell directly to customers or to aggregators like NOPEC.
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SB 221 (2008) required utilities to support large-scale municipal aggregation.
Updated 5/22/23